by Mike Brehm, USA TODAY Sports

by Mike Brehm, USA TODAY Sports

The Ottawa Senators have been very careful about addressing the NHL's decision not to hold a hearing on Matt Cooke's season-ending check on reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson.

As the NHL has its job to do, the Senators have their job to do. It's not the Senators' job to determine who's suspended.

The league viewed the hit, in which Cooke's skate cut Karlsson's Achilles tendon 70% of the way through, as a hockey hit gone bad.

But an angry Eugene Melnyk, the Senators owner, took another tack when talking about Cooke during a radio interview with Canada's TSN on Friday: The Pittsburgh Penguins forward shouldn't be in the league at all.

Said Melnyk:

"To have him (Karlsson) taken out by a goon is just unconscionable. Whether it was accidental or whether it was reckless or whether it was intentional, to me, it doesn't matter. It's something that never should have happened. This player should never be playing in this league. It's a league for elite players."

Melnyk never mentioned Cooke by name during the interview, but he knew his history. Cooke has been suspended five times by the league. He also had the famed blindside hit on Boston Bruins center Marc Savard that wasn't subject to supplementary discipline because it wasn't against the rules at the time.

After his final suspension in 2010-11, 10 games and the first round of playoffs, Cooke worked with the Penguins video staff to view his hits and learn how to check players differently. His penalty minutes dropped from 129 to 44 and he scored a career-best 19 goals.

Melnyk didn't believe that Cooke had changed:

"I don't buy any of that garbage. Five times? No, we're number six? How about seven and eight? At what point do you say, 'you know what? Maybe he's not changed.' You do this enough times, don't try to convince me or anybody else. People are way too intelligent. The guy gets suspended five times. That's how many times he's been suspended, never mind how many times he's not been suspended."

Melnyk also was critical of the Penguins for employing Cooke and called players like him a dime a dozen.

Cooke, reached by TSN in Winnipeg, said he had reached out to Karlsson via text but had not heard back. Of the Melnyk interview, he said:

"Obviously I'm sorry Mr. Melnyk feels that way and I understand the position he's in and it's not easy. I think this is different than it was in the past for me, I know where my head is and how I feel about the play and that's most important."